The
Mesolithic period, also known as the Middle Stone Age, lasted
for over 6000 years from around 10,000 BC to around 4000 BC.
It began at the end of the last Ice Age (at the end of the
Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age) and it continued until the
first appearance of farming in the Neolithic (New Stone Age).
Download our Mesolithic
Leaflet to find out more.

Although
the period was long we know relatively little about it. The
North York Moors National Park and Tees Archaeology have teamed
up to find out more and have set up a research project with
funding from English Heritage.

Initial
Research

The
project began in 2006 with an assessment of published sources,
museum collections and information from the Historic Environment
Record.

Fieldwork
for the Mesolithic project began in 2008 with shovel and test
pitting at Upleatham and Goldsborough, both near the coast.
Mesolithic flints were recovered from both sites but were
mainly from the topsoil or later prehistoric features.
To find out more please download the report for the 2008 field
season below:-

This
fieldwork took place on the high moor top at Farndale where
previous concentrations of Mesolithic flint had been noted.
Over 3000 flints were recovered associated with stone spreads
and a number of cut features. The report can be downloaded
below:-

Further
fieldwork took place on the high moors in 2010. The
sites were chosen as there were documented flint collections
from the area. Wetherhouse Moor was badly disturbed
by moor fires and road building. The Bransdale site
produced very late Mesolithic flint work and several shallow
cut features. More details can be found in the report:
-

The
project produced several large assemblages of flint.
The initial resource assessment also highlighted the fact
that the regions museums hold vast collections of prehistoric
lithics, and many of these are poorly documented. To
help museums and private collectors we produced the following
factsheets:-

In
2012 a further and final round of English Heritage funding
was confirmed to bring the project to a close. This
included a geophysical survey and fieldwalking at Goldsborough followed
by a further season of excavation. Evidence was found for a hearth. Despite containing Mesolithic or early Neolithic flint the hearth returned a radiocarbon date of the early Bronze Age. A link to the report is provided below:-

In
May 2012 a geomagnetic survey was carried out at the Goldsborough
site to see how effective the technique might be in identifying
Mesolithic features. The work was conducted by Archaeological
Services, Durham University.

The
results of the survey were encouraging with several anomalies
identified consistent with buried ditches and gullies of a
prehistoric settlement. You can download the report
for the work below: -